First off, let me say that I have neither a great liking for nor a strong antipathy towards dragons. No, the reason I picked up the Wings of Fire anthology was because it featured stories by two of my favorite authors, Patricia A. McKillip and Jane Yolen, as well as others by writers who I was excited to encounter for the first time: namely, Naomi Novik, Peter S. Beagle, Ursula K. LeGuin, and George RR Martin. (What is it with fantasy authors and middle initials?)

As I look back over these stories, very few jump out at me as being either good or bad. McKillip’s and Yolen’s were a bit disappointing, the first being beautifully written but underdeveloped, the second lacking in emotional resonance. The one poem (by Beagle) was just gross, and several of the prose pieces were unintelligible. Anne McCaffery obviously relied on background for her Pern novels in writing “Weyr Search;” moreover, she seems to be one of those authors who inserts odd punctuation marks into her characters’ names … just to make them look cool. Martin’s “The Ice Dragon” was haunting enough, and Novik’s “In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks over the Wide River” was the one series-based story that worked on its own. Finally, I thought that when it came to exploring the themes of the dragon mythos, the best by far was “Dragon’s Gate” by Pat Murphy … although I cannot remember even that very clearly at the moment. It’s incredible how very forgettable this anthology was.

Of course, I’ve been known to pooh-pooh books before, and then to find that my opinion changes in retrospection. This seems to be particularly the case with short stories. But for now, Wings of Fire gets no recommendation from me. ( )

On the afternoon of August 2, 2008 over too much drink and too many laughs, this book and several others were inspired by Jeremy Lassen and the late Charles N. Brown. This book is dedicated to those two friends and to the memory of that long, fine afternoon.

First words

I keep nine dragons in an old cow barn,And sometimes I go down to look at them.

Quotations

Last words

Making faces at the bundled-up burghers and their fat laies who huffed and puffed past, spouting steam never giving us a glance, and none of us -- not even the burghers -- knowing that we were living our happy ending in advance ...